I always thought that the people who got confused and left Into the Woods at intermission were a theatre urban legend.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 2:34am

And then I went to see Into the Woods at the St Louis Muny tonight.

Two women behind me were confused at the end of Act One! They kept saying, "Is it over?" They thought they had seen Act Two already because they saw in the program that Agony was in Act Two and we already saw that song. Finally, a man - who I don't think was with them - explained to them that no, it wasn't over. And that it was just the first of two acts. And that they were looking at the Agony reprise in the program. He even explained to them what a reprise was.

The show itself was a total mixed bag. Ken Page strutted around being Ken Page and there were 900 children on stage with him when it started. The kids also played the birds. Then come running on in black robes with birds on sticks. Then during the finale, they started creeping on to the stage, one at a time. It was strange. The Baker is singing to his baby and then this kid in modern day street clothes kind of creeps across the stage and sits down to watch and no one acknowledges him. And then more kids do!

During the First Midnight Jack's Mother missed her cue and never made it to the stage The orchestra vamped for a long time and then there was a "SH*T!" exclaimed over the microphone.

A lot of the dialogue was paraphrased and people stepped over each other's lines all night long. Heather Headley added extra words here and there to a lot of her lyrics. The role doesn't really seem suited to her voice, but she sounded pretty good on most of her songs. She seemed a bit put out or bored maybe during the beginning when she was the crone. She perked up once she got to transform. Oh the kids (I think it was the kids again. It was a very long evening.) ran around her with colored streamers while she changed into the sexy witch. No attempt was made to give her the appearance of vanishing at the end of Last Midnight. The lights she went out and she stomped off stage.

The costumes were all over the place. Cinderella's dull blue ball gown (that came off the tree on a hanger, one of those wood ones with the metal hook) doubled as her wedding dress, and it looked really strange with a white veil. The Baker looked like a bus driver from the 1950s and his Wife looked large Margie or Sally from "Buddy's Blues" in Follies. Cinderella's Mother looked like Fruma Sarah. Jack wore Chuck Taylors.

Like their costumes, different actors seemed to be in different shows. Andrew Samonsky was excellent, even if his Cinderella's Prince had to endure a ridiculous wig. Rob McClure was fine as the Baker. I wasn't wild about Erin Dilly as the Baker's Wife.

The woods looked cool. The interiors of the homes looked hastily painted.

Theatre at the Muny is pretty much artless, but this is the kind of stuff the Muny audience eats up. It feels like community theatre with a a decent budget, but with no no one with taste or vision at the helm. People in community theatre usually know their lines better, though.

And as always, having to stand before the show and sing the National Anthem makes me feel like I'm not at theatre, but at a sporting event.

Updated On: 7/26/15 at 02:34 AM

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 2:42am

I did not understand any of those costume choices either (at least from the promo video). Why is the Witch wearing Tinkerbell's dress and Gladiator sandals?! 

Sad to hear the production wasn't better conceived. Lots of talent involved though! Can't wait to see what many in the cast move onto next.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 2:45am

 

 

[Ranger Tom]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 2:45am

My parents have stayed for the second act only once...the first time they saw it.  They hated it so much, but love the first act.  They will go when it's close to them but always leave after the first act.  No confusion...just personal choice.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 2:47am

That strange young boy sitting on stage was shown in the video that was on this site a week ago, at the time I thought WTF is he doing there sitting watching her sing...

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 3:00am

It was so weird. First I thought maybe it was the Baker's son at age ten or something. 

And during more than one song the singers and the orchestra were not in sync. 

Updated On: 7/26/15 at 03:00 AM

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 3:13am

"During the First Midnight Jack's Mother missed her cue and never made it to the stage The orchestra vamped for a long time and then there was a "SH*T!" exclaimed over the microphone."

 

LOL.  

[RockyRoad]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 3:13am

Oh.my.god.  Are those really the costumes an sets?

This is what professional theater in St. Louis is like?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 3:25am

Babygirl, you don't even know.  The woods did look nice, though, and they made good use of the turntable.  

As I was walking to the car afterwards, a man behind me said, "And that... that... sleeping together stuff.  Where did that come from?  I mean, adultery..."

 

Updated On: 7/26/15 at 03:25 AM

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 3:45am

Highlights from the show:

https://youtu.be/F-kl7lJSNAE

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 3:54am

"Highlights from the show:
https://youtu.be/F-kl7lJSNAE"

I would use the word Highlights loosely

 

[Kad]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 9:53am

"Oh.my.god.  Are those really the costumes an sets?
This is what professional theater in St. Louis is like?"

 The MUNY is an absolutely enormous theatre, seating about 11k. It necessitates bright colors and simple costumes and sets so people can see what's going on. The vast majority of people there aren't sitting remotely close to the action. 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 10:25am

Oh dear. I had no idea.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 10:36am

"
Theatre at the Muny is pretty much artless, but this is the kind of stuff the Muny audience eats up. It feels like community theatre with a a decent budget, but with no no one with taste or vision at the helm. People in community theatre usually know their lines better, though.

"


And you still went because......

 

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 10:56am

"Highlights from the show:
https://youtu.be/F-kl7lJSNAE"

 Heather sounds wonderful in this video, as do most others.  I wish it would've been more enjoyable for you, but thanks for posting your insights.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 11:13am

""During the First Midnight Jack's Mother missed her cue and never made it to the stage The orchestra vamped for a long time and then there was a "SH*T!" exclaimed over the microphone."
 
LOL.  "

Thank you for a nice laugh. 

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 11:17am

Matt, I went because my mom and sister wanted to see it.  

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 11:25am

Those clips were interesting.  I would never have thought of "Last Midnight" done as a James Bond theme by Shirley Bassey.

I suppose having 900 kids on stage means they have a whole lotta parents to fill those seats?

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 11:36am

Do you think the kids coming up one-by-one was supposed to be a literal illustration of "children will listen" during the finale? The set seems to have a storybook motif so I guess I can imagine where they were going with that.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 11:45am

Yes, I'm sure that's what it was, Scotty.  That and they have a kids corps they try to shoehorn in wherever they can  

Namo, there weren't really 900, but there would have been room for that many on that stage. 

[Showface]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 11:49am

"As I was walking to the car afterwards, a man behind me said, 'And that... that... sleeping together stuff.  Where did that come from?  I mean, adultery...'"

Oh boy...I wonder if he wrote a review and started telling people how "utterly offended" he was...

[gleek4114]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 12:07pm

I already posted my review in The Muny thread, but I really enjoyed the show. I was there Friday night and everything went off without a hitch. I really didn't like the costumes when viewing the promo footage, but when I saw them in person, they really grew on me. Personally, I didn't think Heather Headley was bored at all. I thought she walked away with most of the show in the palm of her hand. As for the children being used for the birds, the transformation, etc. I understand why they did it that way, and thought it was a great solution to their problem. They really don't have time to engineer some spectacular spectacle for the change. They can't really modify the stage a ton either seeing that Into the Woods closes on the 27th and Beauty and the Beast opens on the 29th. They have to be time effective. As for the children during the final moments, it made perfect sense to me. Personally, I loved this production and thought everything from the casting to the set was spot on. 

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 12:10pm

Maybe they'd all just given up by this performance. 

[musicals1989]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 1:24pm

I share the unpopular opinion with the original poster. I saw opening night and while most of it sounded good, it was just odd. There were a lot of very noticeable music mishaps. (Cinderella skipped a phrase at the end of PALACE, Ken missed the EVER AFTER entrance, Baker's Wife was jumping out of vamps and skipping beats.) The conductor looked frantic at times. A lot of sound problems too---they pre-recorded Heather's last CRUNCH in Last Midnight, but didn't turn her mic off. So we heard two "crunches". Oops. 

It was enjoyable, but it wasn't what I wanted. :)

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 1:30pm

Don't these MUNY shows rehearse for about a week? That may explain why the performances are often so sloppy.